Finland’s tourism sector flying high

Finland has become a desirable travel destination for the Chinese: last year, visitor numbers were up by one-third on 2015.

Visit Finland / Jeremy Janin

According to Visit Finland, both the number of visits and the expenditure of foreign tourists increased in 2016.

Altogether, there were 7.7 million trips to Finland in 2016, an increase of two per cent on the previous year’s figures. The number of overnight stays were 4.6 million.

In addition, the expenditure of foreign tourists in Finland increased by five per cent in 2016. In total, foreign tourists spent 3.9 billion euros in Finland, when travelling expenses are included. Each tourist spent on average approximately 320 euros per journey.

“In particular, the end of the year was good for tourism in Finland,” says Paavo Virkkunen, EVP of Visit Finland at Finpro. “If the positive development of visitors from Russia and Asia continues, 2017 is set to be an excellent year for the Finnish tourism industry.”

Russians remain the most frequent visitors to Finland, having made over 2.5 million trips last year. However, Chinese tourists spent the most money whilst here, with each visitor parting with an average of 940 euros during their visit.

The share of tourism in Finland’s gross domestic product is 2.5 per cent.

Over 19 000 foreign tourists were interviewed for Visit Finland’s tourist survey, which was conducted at Finnish border stations over the past year.

Good News from Finland is published by Finnfacts, which is part of Finpro.